Michelle is packing up house

Imagine downsizing from the 55,000 square foot White House to 8,200 square feet – as the First Family will do shortly. Michelle and POTUS likely won’t do the heavy lifting of their move, but they’ll do the deciding – which is the hardest part.

It’s the middle of January. You said you were going to get started clearing the clutter of your life.

We haul our stuff and our ideas from place to place because they’re hard to let go of and we can’t decide what to do with them. We say we keep things for sentimentality, for our children.

If I could have time back with my late parents, we sure wouldn’t talk about the stuff they left behind. We’d hug and laugh and cry and catch up on this past decade since they’ve been gone – and what we living have been doing and will do next.

Curate the museum of your life. Move it. Drop the ballast. This is thrilling!

Try this easy technique: Left or right? Use your political leaning as an arbitrary method for clearing out.

Start out and go from the left or from the right. Drawers? Closets? Attic? Garage? Car? A room full of people? Go from left or from right. As simple as that. Take 3-4 minutes at a time.

Start somewhere. But get started.

This is one step that’s about as simple as ABC.

Comments 4

Hi Carol! I’m in the thick of it today. Your post couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m purging and using OHIO (only handle it once) method and does it bring joy. Can you elaborate on swipe left or right? If you have any other tips too would be great. 😊

Also, what you wrote about clutter of ideas is on point. It’s so overwhelming because there’s the internal, external physical, external digital social media and email box to organize and de-clutter too. Oy! One thing at a time though, right?

Hi Sharon,
Let’s use top of your desk as an example. When it’s a mess and cluttered, literally start on the left side to clean it up. Even if you only get the first 1/4 of the desk cleared in a minute,at least you started. Too often people don’t know where to begin.

If a person leans right politically, they would work from right. It’s just arbitrary to give yourself a kick to get going.

So, handbag, closet, kitchen countertop, coffee table…start from one side and go to the other. It’s a start!
Thanks and keep following for more ideas:)
Carol

Anita, try one of these
1. Get a roll of painter’s blue tape. When clearing any surface of clutter – no matter the size – allow yourself to tape 5 items you can’t decide about. That’s your dithering pile. When you next face that pile, you get to keep just one item.
2. Think of the clean-out as a sailing or a flight; when it’s time, you board! Off you go on a journey. No extra baggage. Let go of it. The trip is the treasure. So don’t be bogged down in old baggage.
Carol